Thursday, 5 January 2012

It's hard not to wake up feeling terrified. And weak. Will I be able to handle Honours year and preparing all that needs to be done to apply for Masters in American universities, both at the same time?

There's the GRE exam, a whole lot of testprep (decisions to make like: what materials to use, self study or take classes too?), application essays (such an important part of the application process that I have no experience in doing), the paperwork (getting official transcripts sent, visa, test scores), other application things like videos and TOEFL and sending past samples of my work ... and needing to get good enough results in Honours and the GRE and write good essays to actually get accepted into these universities.

I'm terrified. I don't know if I can do it, but I haven't even tried yet. There's a lot of stress involved that I wish I could handle without being scared. Will there come a time later this year when I will stop being scared? This lack of confidence is weak, but the first step to overcoming it may be to admit it.

So far, only Boston University accepts my three-year Australian degree. The University of Southern California, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Texas at Austin, University of Illinois and Urbana-Champaign and the University of Florida require what they call the "equivalent of a U.S. degree", which is a 4-year Australian degree or Honours degree. I'm still waiting for replies from Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Minnesota, Purdue, Michigan State University, University of Washington, and Ohio State University. University of Hawaii wants a 4-year degree but doesn't require the GRE at all (which means Honours year without taking GRE!), but mum won't let me even consider going there. I wish the other grad schools didn't require GRE either, hahaha, but they do. :(